Archerfish.org

The 24-year old Olympic Medallist of Beijing secured an Olympic Quota Place to participate in the next Games by outdoing India’s Kumar in a spinechilling duel for Gold.

The new exciting 25m Rapid Fire Pistol final was conducted today, at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning, GA, USA.

It was the German finalist Christian Reitz, 24, who won the match with an overall score of 29 hits. The Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing 2008 finished on the highest step of the podium by passing through a breathtaking match, and only after outdoing India’s Vijay Kumar in a shoot-off for Gold by 4 to 1 hits.

Reitz, who had never won an ISSF World Cup medal with the new final format, also secured an Olympic Quota Place, a pass to the next 2012 Olympic Games in London.

“This is the first Quota for Germany in this even. An Olympic Quota and a Gold medal, what should I ask more!” The gold medal winner said, with a smile on his face.

“It has not been an easy final. It’s very hot, here in Georgia, and the light conditions are a little bit complicate, in comparison with other world cups.” The German shooter said.

“I have been working a lot to prepare for this competition, but this is just the first step. We will keep on competing untill the end of the season.” Reitz concluded.

Following him, India’s 25-year old Vijay Kumar secured the Silver medal, as well as the second Olympic Quota Place to be awarded today, with an overall score of 29 hits + 1 hit in the shoot-off, after scoring two great series of five hits during the final.

The Bronze medal went to China’s Ding Feng, 24, the winner of last year’s World Cup final round here in Fort Benning. The young Chinese shooter had qualified in the lead with 589 points, but with the new final format qualification points are not counting in the final. With 24 hits, he shot-off against Kumar, eventually finishing then in third place, just one hit far from the Olympic Qualification.

Today’s only finalist already qualified to participate in the Games, Cuba’s Leuris Pupo, left the match after the sixth competition series, with 20 hits, while the first two finalists who had to live the shooting line were Josef Fiala of Czech Republic (sixth with 10 hits) and Korea’s Kim Daeyoong (fifth with 16 hits).

The Chinese Pistol team finished in the spotlight once again, at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Fort Benning, USA, where more then 400 shooters met to compete in the ten Olympic events of Rifle and Pistol shooting from the 22nd through the 31st of May

Ding Feng won today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol men competition, ending up on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 786.5 points. The 23-year old Chinese shooter, coming from Bronze at the World Cup held in Beijing a few weeks ago, won here his second consecutive ISSF medal leading the match from the first to the last series. After qualifying with 589 points, he shot 197.5 points during the final, managing his head start on his followers to close with the Gold.

Ding’s teammate Li Yuehong, 20, who ha won the first two World Cup stages of the season in Sydney and Beijing, made it into today’s medal match with 583 points, ending up in fifth with a total score of 779.0 points

“We have no secrets, it’s just hard work and a bit of luck!” said the Gold medallist Ding right after the last final series “I train about four hour each day, following the tables of my coach, it’s hard work but it pays off”

The Chinese shooter, twice on the podium this year, looks forward to the next matches of the 2010 season “Of course the World Championship is an important competition, but I am focusing on each and every match with the same intensity – he said – I will be in Serbia, at the next ISSF World Cup Stage, and then hopefully at the World Championship, trying to grab one of those Olympic Quotas for China”.

Today’s Silver went to Italy’s first time World Cup finalist Riccardo Mazzetti, 26, who finished on the podium passing through an odd defying match. The Italian shooter, ranked 48th in the World, entered the match in second with 583 points, and landed on the podium with a total score of 785.1 points.

“This is my first World Cup medal. I had never been in an ISSF final, before, but I was not so nervous. It’s fun to be here shooting with these great athletes…” said Mazzetti, whose best placement in his career had been third place at the 2009 European Championship.

“I would not say that I was expecting a medal, here – Admitted the Italian athlete, who shot today’s highest score in the final, 202.1 points – We are trying to peak for the World Championship. We started training a little bit later, and I would say I am not at my best. Therefore this medal surprises me. It surprises me in a positive way!”

Bronze went to Beijing’s Olympian Leonid Ekimov of Russia. The 22-year old shooter, ranked nineteenth in the world, ended up in third place with a total score of 782.8 points, climbing up from the fourth place by scoring 200.8 points during the final.

20-year old Li Yuehong of China won his second consecutive World Cup Gold, followed by two young shooters in second and third place.

The 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Final was a stage of success for young athletes, at the 2010 ISSF Word Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Beijing, as three shooters in their early 20s finished on the podium beating titled and expert shooters.

Spotlights were on the 20-year old Chinese finalist Li Yuehong, who won his second consecutive ISSF World Cup Gold medal in this event, just weeks far from his first victory in Sydney.

Li, who competed for the first time on the international scene last March at the first 2010 ISSF World Cup stage in Sydney winning an odd-defying Gold medal, repeated himself on the lines of the 2008 Olympic range of Beijing.

The home shooter made it into the final in first place, with a qualification of 585 points, and left no chances to his opponents. Supported by the home crowd cheering for him after every final series, the young athlete climbed up in first place with a total score of 785.8 points, after scoring 200.8 points during the final. The debuting shooter claimed his second consecutive Gold medal, climbing the World Ranking up to the third place, and frightening the Running Target establishment, the German shooters Reitz and Schumann who had been the protagonists of the last Olympic Games.

Following the 20-year old Lin, two young shooters placed in second and third place. Russia’s 24-year old Ivan Stoukachev secured the Silver medal with 783.4 points (582+201.4). China’s second finalist, the 2007 World Cup Final Silver medallist Ding Feng, 23, ended up in third place grabbing today’s Bronze with 778.8 (581+197.8) points.

The American athlete shot a total of 780.5 points (584+196.5), finishing in the lead with one tenth of a point of advantage on the following Vijay KUMAR, silver medallist with 780.4 pts ((581+199.4).

“I had memories of the Olympic Games going through my mind” said Sanderson, who had competed in this range at the last Games, struggling during the Olympic final round, and eventually landing in fifth place. He said: “I’ve been replaying the Olympic final and these targets so many times, after the Games, that I still remember them”

“I had so many things going through my head, today” Sanderson concluded “I am happy I was able to win the Gold medal. Next stop: Munich, for the next world cup stage”.

India’s Vijay KUMAR, a 23-year old shooter, 26th in the World Ranking, climbed all the way from the fourth place to win silver with 780.4 points (581+199.4). His score in the final match, 199.4 points, turned out to be the highest of today’s competition.

The Indian athlete had never won an ISSF medal in this event, but Beijing seems to be his favourite range. Here he had indeed shot his best placement, when he had finished in seventh place at the 2008 pre-Olympic world cup.

Bronze was secured by Japan’s Teruyoshi AKIMATA, 37, a long-course shooter who had never entered a world cup final-match before. AKIMATA shot the second highest final score, 198.5 points, climbing from the sixth place he had after the qualifications. The Japanese shooter grabbed his first world-level medal with a total score of 777.5 points (579+198.5).

Russia’s Dmitry BRAYKO finished in fourth place with 776.1 points (581+195.1), followed by Jan-Marcel GOELDEN of Germany, fifth with 774.4 pts (580+194.4) and by Jeorge LLAMES of Spain, sixth with 773.7 pts (581+192.7).

World Record holder Alexei KLIMOV of Russia won today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol men event at the ISSF world cup in Changwon, Korea. The 33-year old Russian athlete won the final round with a total score of 790.2 points (590+200.2), starting the new season in the lead as he had finished the previous one by winning the 2008 World Cup Final in Bangkok.

Klimov won gold by defeating in the third and last relay Beijing’s Bronze medallist Christian REITZ, renewing a duel lasting since last year’s World Cup in Milan, when Reitz had tied Klimov’s 591-point record, and then set a new Final World Record of 794.0 points.
Today, the expert Russian shooter entered the final round in the lead with one point of head start, and did not live many chances to Reitz. The 21-year old German shooter did not fire his best final, landing in fourth place with a score of 784.4 points (589+195.4).

Silver went to USA’s Keith SANDERSON, who climbed from the third place to finish on the second step of the podium with a score of 787.3 points (589+198.3). “good to be on the podium, but I am not very happy with the today’s score. I haven’t been training that much after the Olympics. – Said the American shooter, who had placed in fifth at the Olympic final of Beijing, last year – I have been teaching shooting in Hawaii, but will train more, from now on.”

Bronze went to the 23-year old Chinese shooter Jian ZHANG, 23, who scored 785.7 points (588+197.7). He had never taken part in an ISSF international or continental competition before, and his prime performance highlighted once more the success of the Chinese team at this first ISSF world cup stage.

Korea’s KANG Min Su finished in fifth place, scoring 781.9 points (585+196.9), while the Russian pistol master Leonid EKIMOV finished in last after missing one of the targets in his first series.
Ekimov, who had won Gold and Silver in the 10m Air Pistol and 50m Pistol men events in the last days, could not recover from that mistake, and missed the chance to step on his third consecutive podium, landing in sixth place with 768.8 points (585+183.8).